Trump IV (what did you expect?)

[Schewe]

So, without much further ado I bring you Trump IV...

Trump III barely lasted 8 hrs. Which was even shorter than the Trump thread that lasted about 2 days. The Trump II thread however lasted from Feb 5th, 2017 until Oct 4th when Chris had enough and locked it.

So, we all know the ground rules right? In Trump II we survived 242 days (cool number, it's a palindrome) without egregiously violating the rules...maybe we can have Trump IV last longer than less than 1/2 a day?

So, on to the obligatory Trump content...

Some of you may wonder how long I spend each day finding all these stories about Trump. Not long...maybe 1/2 hr a day...sometimes more when Trump has been particularly naughty. But it's really not too hard to find this stuff.

For example, Bloomberg Politics has a great resource called Tracking Trump which has a daily list of Bloomberg Politics stories laid out.

You can search by topic or just look at a list of daily stories going back to the first date Here’s what happened on...THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017

So, today for example is a story about Ivanka...

Ivanka Trump Is Selling More Books, But Still Fewer Than Clinton


Ivanka Trump’s latest book, ‘Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success’

The book has sold 31,000 copies as of Oct. 1, five months after it came out, according to NPD Bookscan. That compares with 26,000 copies in all for her first book, “The Trump Card,” which was published eight years ago.

Still, “Women Who Work” pales compared with Clinton’s “What Happened,” which sold 312,000 copies in its first month alone. President Donald Trump’s latest book, “Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America,” has sold 311,000 copies since it was released November 2015.

In “Women Who Work,” published by Penguin Random House, the first daughter offered advice to career-minded female readers -- including tips on becoming “the best version of yourself.”

Well, DOOOOH, I would love to learn how to be a better version of me!

Another resource I use is of course, Google with a topic search of Donald Trump which gives me a handy list of stories to browse. Sometimes there's an arrow you can click to get expanded coverage as shown below:


When you click that you get additional articles that looks like this:



If you then click on the View full coverage arrow, you get everything Google can find on the subject...that's pretty comprehensive! You might get overloaded...

BTW, in case you were wondering, the story I expanded was Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy Circus
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDOCT. 5, 2017

Another day, another embarrassing foreign policy circus in the nation’s capital that can only further erode trust in American leadership at home and abroad. At its center is Rex Tillerson, who traded his job as top dog at the oil giant ExxonMobil to become secretary of state, only to find himself substantively and personally undercut by President Trump as recently as Sunday on the issue of Korea, where Mr. Tillerson wanted negotiations as Mr. Trump threatened war.

Ya see? Each and every day brings new stories of wonder and disgust regarding President Donald J Trump's production of The White House Reality Show™

There are other tricks to more efficiently find really bad or good (depending on your point of view) stories about Trump...it's not hard, Trump keeps behaving like the proverbial bull in a china shoppe. But I'm not gonna stop till he does...(hopefully that won't be too much longer ;~)

[Chris Kern]

So, without much further ado I bring you Trump IV...

What a relief!  I was beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms.

[Farmer]

What a relief!  I was beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms.

That's why Schewe is offering it this time via IV...

[Alan Klein]

Sorry, I can't bite on Trump IV. I need to get on with my life.  Now where did I put that camera? 

[Kevin Gallagher]

Jeff, isn't it about time you accepted the results of the election and get back to whatever it is you do? All this cutting, pasting, ranting, etc. so reminds me of a spoiled child the first time he/she doesn't get it's way. Ki used to think of you as a technical guru but now..


 Kevin in CT

[Schewe]

Jeff, isn't it about time you accepted the results of the election and get back to whatever it is you do?

Nope...I will not accept this new perverted normal as my new normal, sorry if that offends you (well, not really).

To simply "accept" the words and behavior of this malignant narcissist because, in a fluke, he was elected (by a mere 27% of eligible voters BTW) would be to give this man an acceptance he doesn't deserve and certainly hasn't earned.

Unlike other presidents, Trump has done less than zero to enlarge the tent and expand beyond his rabid base of support. Oh, he reached out to dems for the express purpose of pissing off the GOP and retribution for the Senate's failure to repeal let alone the Affordable Care Act.

Also, you are only seeing what I post here–arguably the worst of TrumpLand–but I'm socially active locally and regionally. Illinois has a terrible Governor, Bruce Rauner. And while the city of Chicago is hugely democratic and we have two very democratic Senators; Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth Illinois has had a history of really rancid and corrupt governors, Rauner is just hugely ineffective...so I plan to work on behalf of the democratic nominee (almost regardless of whom it may be).

I'm also actively supporting good journalism by actually subscribing to a variety of newspapers and magazines (like NYT, WaPo, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, Chicago and LA Tribunes) and other groups such as the ACLU, Sierra Club (Chicago). My wife, as a result of Trump's anti-women misogyny has also been compelled to become active. Heck, I even marched in the Science March on Earth Day last April...The March for Science 4/22/17 in Chicago (image heavy) and if you want to see more here's my web gallery: The Geek March 4-22-17.

   

So, while I really appreciate your concern for my well being (and mental health), I find selecting particularly egregious words and behaviors and posting them here to be therapeutic and a substantial catharsis...plus, it's fun to make fun of the Big Orange Dummy™.

[Schewe]

Just remember who we're talking about...he's a billionaire who wants to be treated as a royal while behaving like an ass (did he really think throwing paper towels at hurricane survivors would be a good photo op?).

But let's put this into perspective....

TRUMP'S EXORBITANT TRAVEL COSTS COULD PAY TO SEND PUERTO RICO 128 CARGO SHIPS WITH AID

Donald Trump complained to Puerto Rican hurricane victims this week that their suffering is throwing his budget "out of whack," but for the same cost as the first family's exorbitant travel, the government could have sent nearly 130 cargo ships to the island, a new analysis shows.

The president and first family have reportedly spent an unprecedented $32 million on trips to Mar-a-Lago and other exclusive Trump properties across the country — so much, in fact, that the online document company FormSwiftdecided to convert the extravagent budget into its equivalent in humanitarian aide.

Estimating the cost of fuel and the length of the trip, the numbers-crunchers discovered that the president's estimated travel bills would equal 128 cargo ship trips from Florida to Puerto Rico. When FormSwift included the entire first family's travels, the amount of aid ships increased to 130.

[Schewe]

That "Dodgy Dossier" may indeed be a bit less dodgy than Trump would like to admit...

Exclusive: Mueller's team met with Russia dossier author


Christopher Steele

Washington (CNN)Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators met this past summer with the former British spy whose dossier on alleged Russian efforts to aid the Trump campaign spawned months of investigations that have hobbled the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Information from Christopher Steele, a former MI-6 officer, could help investigators determine whether contacts between people associated with the Trump campaign and suspected Russian operatives broke any laws.

CNN has learned that the FBI and the US intelligence community last year took the Steele dossier more seriously than the agencies have publicly acknowledged. James Clapper, then the director of national intelligence, said in a January 2017 statement that the intelligence community had "not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable."

The intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA, and the FBI took Steele's research seriously enough that they kept it out of a publicly-released January report on Russian meddling in the election in order to not divulge which parts of the dossier they had corroborated and how.
This contrasts with attempts by President Donald Trump and some lawmakers to discredit Steele and the memos he produced.

Ever since the dossier came to light in January, Trump and his allies have repeatedly insisted that it is a complete work of fiction. He told The New York Times this summer that the dossier "was totally made-up stuff." In a series of tweets earlier this year, Trump said the memos were written by a "failed spy" who had relied on "totally made-up facts by sleazebag political operatives."

While the most salacious allegations in the dossier haven't been verified, its broad assertion that Russia waged a campaign to interfere in the election is now accepted as fact by the US intelligence community. CNN also reported earlier this year that US investigators have corroborated some aspects of the dossier, specifically that some of the communications among foreign nationals mentioned in the memos did actually take place.

In case you haven't seen it, here's a link to the BuzzFeed's unsubstantiated dossier

[Schewe]

Wait...Trump wants Congress to investigate the US New Media? Oh, really?

Autocracy, anyone? Trump calls for Senate investigation of media outlets.

Donald J. Trump is frustrated. He’s the president of the United States, and yet there are limits to how he can use his power. He can’t just snap his fingers and end Obamacare; his travel ban got gummed up in litigation; he can’t flick a switch and “open up” libel laws; the regime in North Korea doesn’t appear to respect him too much.

And then there’s the issue of the Beltway media, which refuses to enable a man extraordinarily unfit for his responsibilities. NBC News, for example, reported on Wednesday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had referred to President Trump as a “moron” after a July meeting at the Pentagon, not to mention that the top diplomat “was on the verge of resigning.” The story carried four bylines and extensive sourcing. CNN reported that Trump knew before Wednesday about the “moron” moment.

None of those considerations, of course, prevented Trump from blasting the story the way he commonly blasts negative press:

Donald J. Trump  ✔ @realDonaldTrump
NBC news is #FakeNews and more dishonest than even CNN. They are a disgrace to good reporting. No wonder their news ratings are way down!
9:47 AM - Oct 4, 2017


Donald J. Trump  ✔ @realDonaldTrump
The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!
10:18 AM - Oct 4, 2017


Donald J. Trump  ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Rex Tillerson never threatened to resign. This is Fake News put out by @NBCNews. Low news and reporting standards. No verification from me.
6:50 AM - Oct 5, 2017


To that last attack, one Twitter user helpfully replied, “You also thought Obama wasn’t American, so you’re not exactly a great barometer of accuracy.”

Being president is a tough line of work. As the New York Times wrote in February, Trump came to the White House with a long background in manipulating, goading and feeding New York tabloids. His virtuoso work with reporters — including a stunt in which he impersonated his own PR guy — doubtless fed an expectation that perhaps he’d be able to pull the same moves in the nation’s capital.

He cannot, and so he lapses into autocratic desperation, as in this tweet from Thursday:


Donald J. Trump  ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!
5:59 AM - Oct 5, 2017


For context, the Senate intelligence committee has heard testimony about the distortions and propaganda of Russian-funded outlets such as RT and Sputnik. “The rapid expansion of RT’s operations and budget and recent candid statements by RT’s leadership point to the channel’s importance to the Kremlin as a messaging tool and indicate a Kremlin-directed campaign to undermine faith in the US Government and fuel political protest,” noted a January report from the U.S. intelligence community. RT has attempted to convince its audience that the U.S. electoral system is beset with fraud. As for Sputnik, just take it from its former White House reporter: “They wanted me to be asking and writing stuff on this Seth Rich thing and I said, ‘I’m not going to do that.’”

That the president of the United States would suggest that U.S. news organizations deserve scrutiny ahead of RT and Sputnik is, once again, not surprising. Which is not to say it isn’t scandalous, because it surely is. In President Ronald Reagan’s day, the suggestion of any equivalence between Soviet propaganda and this country’s best media outlets would have fed outrage for weeks. As things stand today, there’ll be some op-ed-ing about this violation of our country’s constitutional norms, and on to the next stupid tweet.

So, Trump asks: Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country...

Oh, maybe because of the Constitution?

[LesPalenik]

Hard to believe, but Trump is one of the nominees for Nobel Peace Prize. Along with Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis, the frontrunner.
The bookies give a slightly better chance to Trump than to Obama.

[Alan Goldhammer]

Hard to believe, but Trump is one of the nominees for Nobel Peace Prize. Along with Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis, the frontrunner.
The bookies give a slightly better chance to Trump than to Obama.

Those were all nonsense rumors.  The award was made this morning and The International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons is the choice.  Good series of Blog posts over at The Guardian.

[Pete_G]

Kissinger got the Peace prize too !  James M Buchanon the ultra right wing economist got a Nobel prize in 1986. He's the bloke who the Koch brothers love so much, his ideas are ultimately behind Trump because of that, even if "ideas" and "Trump" in the same sentence is a little ridiculous.

Keep on keeping on Jeff. I wonder what Trump nn we'll get to before he's out of office?

[Robert Roaldi]

Wait...Trump wants Congress to investigate the US New Media? Oh, really?

Autocracy, anyone? Trump calls for Senate investigation of media outlets.



So, Trump asks: Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country...

Oh, maybe because of the Constitution?

Might this be that totalitarian take-over of the government that some people are so worried about? They usually start with muzzling the press, don't they? Best keep an eye out on those radio stations, at least the few left that are actually privately owned and not part of some corporate empire.

Seriously though, is there a better sign of a healthy press than when politicians complain about it. It's the equivalent of a Good Housekeeping stamp of approval. I don't have any friends who are journalists but they must be popping the champagne corks this morning in the press rooms. They must have this feeling now, more than ever I mean, that they're on the right track and are probably tempted to double-down. I guess we should be grateful that he's only tweeting this nonsense, in Russia they tend to murder journalists.

But even more seriously, if Trump really was such an astute corporate CEO, and he did work in "reality TV", shouldn't he be better at press management? With the power of the Presidency behind him and the GOP majorities in both Houses, are we really supposed to believe that a few reporters and columnists are holding back the country? Even Nixon was better at this than Trump. It smacks of desperation and incompetence to me, but then I thought that before anyway.

That image of him throwing paper towels and bags of rice at people in Puerto Rico keeps recurring. How is it possible to NOT be repulsed by this behaviour? Is there some subtext here that I'm not getting. Is this a dog whistle signal to his base that I am not comprehending? I can't help but ask the question, if Puerto Rico was primarily a high-end resort for chamber-of-commerce Republican country club golfers, would he have tossed paper towels at them?

[LesPalenik]

In September, the economy lost 33,000 jobs with the unemployment rate falling to a new post-crisis low of 4.2%. This is the first negative print for headline payroll gains since 2010.

So much about bringing back jobs, promised by Trump. During his inaugural address on January 20, he said he would add 25 million jobs over the next decade. Not a good start!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live-september-jobs-report-120955634.html

[jeremyrh]

I guess we should be grateful that he's only tweeting this nonsense, in Russia they tend to murder journalists.

Well, not only tweeting. Journalists have already been physically attacked, so who knows what's around the corner.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Kissinger got the Peace prize too

He did. It led Tom Lehrer to announce that he was giving up satire, the competition being unfair.

Jeremy

[Robert Roaldi]

The American Taliban: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/06/sessions-calls-for-broad-religious-freedom-protections-243536.

[Schewe]

Might this be that totalitarian take-over of the government that some people are so worried about?

Yes and he would be joining with some notoriously unpleasant characters....



And yet his supporters, at least for now, seem perfectly willing to be his sheep and the GOP isn't really much better except for congressmen that have decided to not run in 2018 like Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker (R) who said "The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. He has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great and what it is today, and he's got to demonstrate the characteristics of a president who understands that."

But it's going to take more GOP leaders to step up and reject Trump's behavior and it's going to take Trump supporters to realize that what Trump has sold them is a bill of goods that he can't really follow through on (even when it's painfully obvious he never really intended to from the beginning).

[Schewe]

Another example of Trump saying the words but failing to take action...

Trump declared an opioid emergency, but then did nothing


US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence speak to the press on August 10, 2017, at Trump's Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey

Speaking from one of his golf resorts in early August, Donald Trump used the words many in the public-health community wanted to hear.

“The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I’m saying officially, right now, it is an emergency,” the president said from Bedminster. “It’s a national emergency. We’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis.”

As we discussed over the summer, Trump’s use of the word “officially” stood out because of its procedural significance: when a president makes an official emergency declaration, a series of steps are supposed to kick into action. NBC News reported at the time, “Experts said that the national emergency declaration would allow the executive branch to direct funds towards expanding treatment facilities and supplying police officers with the anti-overdose remedy naloxone.”

Four weeks later, the New York Times reported that the White House hadn’t actually followed up on this in any way.

When President Trump announced in early August, following a presidential commission’s recommendations, that the opioid crisis was a “national emergency,” he called it “a serious problem the likes of which we have never had.”

A month has now passed, and that urgent talk has yet to translate into urgent action. While the president’s aides say they are pursuing an expedited process, it remains to be seen how and by what mechanism Mr. Trump plans to direct government resources.

That was in September. As of yesterday, eight weeks have passed since Trump “officially” declared this an emergency, and he and his team still haven’t followed through.

Hum...I wonder how many overdose feathers there have been in the US since Aug 10th?



Hum, based on last year's numbers of 50K deaths in 2016, assume about an average of about 137 deaths per day...so, since Aug 10th, likely some 8,000 overdose deaths have occurred since Trump said “The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I’m saying officially, right now, it is an emergency,”...pardon me, but I would think that if it's an emergency maybe it would be useful to actually DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE EMERGENCY?

Yeah, I know, he's been distracted by three hurricanes and a mass shooting...but that's what presidents are supposed to do multi-task! Maybe we need to have Fox and Friends do a report in the morning to get Trump's attention back...


Edited to fix broken link

[Schewe]

And speaking about the media...it seems that Trump's administration is trying to hide from mainstream media too...

Study: Trump officials overwhelmingly flock to Fox News

Trump and his administration officials, family members, and lawyer are sticking to right-wing media

Media Matters tracked appearances on weekday cable news by 42 prominent Trump administration advocates between August 3 and October 2. Prominent members of Trump’s administration, his personal lawyer, and his family appeared on Fox News 78 times, with the majority going on Trump propaganda shows Hannity and Fox & Friends. In comparison, that same group of Trump advocates appeared on CNN and MSNBC only eight and six times, respectively.

The skew in appearances is in large part due to an inordinate number of appearances by Kellyanne Conway, Sebastian Gorka, Mick Mulvaney, and Jay Sekulow on Fox. Conway, who serves as counselor to the president, appeared on Fox News 17 times, compared to two appearances on CNN and zero appearances on MSNBC. Similarly, Gorka, who served as a deputy assistant to Trump until August 25, appeared on Fox News five times between August 3 and August 25, with no appearances on CNN and only one appearance on MSNBC (Gorka has additionally appeared on Fox six times since his resignation). Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, likewise made five appearances on Fox News but only a single appearance on CNN and MSNBC each. Lastly, Sekulow, who is Trump’s personal lawyer, appeared on Fox 12 times and CNN and MSNBC zero times.



Out of the 78 appearances on Fox News, 60 percent were on either Fox & Friends or Hannity. There were 28 guest appearances on Fox & Friends in the two-month period by a wide range of Trump administration advocates and officials. The president himself appeared on Fox & Friends, as did Vice President Mike Pence, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Conway, Gorka, Sekulow, and nine different cabinet officials. On Hannity, there were a total of 19 appearances on Sean Hannity’s hour-long prime-time show by this group of people, with the most frequent guests being Sekulow (nine times), Conway (four times), and Gorka (two times). Additionally, Hannity hosted Sanders once, Trump’s son Eric twice, and Eric’s wife Lara once.



While Trump cabinet officials and advisers have mostly stayed away from CNN and MSNBC, they’ve made time for appearances on a variety of far-right and right-wing outlets and radio stations. Following Hurricane Harvey, Pence interviewed with Rush Limbaugh (who has a history of pushing hurricane conspiracy theories) and Michael Berry (a radio host notorious for mocking black victims of gun violence in Chicago) among other conservative radio hosts. Additionally, Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt appeared on Breitbart radio following Hurricane Harvey to deny the link between hurricanes and climate change. During the interview, host Alex Marlow pushed Pruitt to attack news coverage, and Pruitt responded by lashing out at “opportunistic media” and their “misplaced” coverage about climate change. This pattern of prominent Trump administration officials feeling more comfortable appearing on friendly right-wing outlets is also made apparent by Trump, whose only appearance on cable networks in the past two months was an interview with Fox & Friends. Yet, he will be appearing October 7 on Mike Huckabee’s new show, Huckabee, which is broadcast on Trinity Broadcasting Network.

So, what does this mean?

Trump and his followers (both staff, family and supporters) have pretty much given up on trying to make their case to mainstream America and have concentrated their attentions on maintaining their hardcore base of supporters...it's the very definition of an echo chamber where everything said is in direct line of support of the party line and nothing uncomfortable is ever reported on...

It's basically Trump's attempt to turn the right wing media into the propaganda arm of the Trump administration in the sad hope the rest of the American people won't notice the rug being pulled out from underneath them...

Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure SOME Americans are noticing...